Thousands of 99% protesters are in Washington, D.C. this week to Take Back the Capitol. Yesterday we swarmed congressional offices all over Capitol Hill. Hundreds of jobless workers and their supporters told powerful stories of why the 99% need JOBS not cuts.1

Today we’re taking on the corporate lobbying firms of the 1% to hold them accountable for polluting our political system and rigging the economy against the 99%.

That’s not good enough. The fact remains: Rerouting and delaying the Keystone XL does not solve the problem; that the Tar Sandspipeline is a fuse to a massive carbon bomb.

There is already more than enough evidence for the President and the State Department to simply declare that the Keystone XL pipeline is not in our national interest, stopping the project. That is what he should do.

But if the game in Washington DCdoesn’t allow the President to take decisive action, then he clearly has the factual evidence and popular mandate to call for the State Department to start the review process from the beginning and conduct a fair, impartial review that takes into account global warming pollution and is free from the influence of lobbyists.

I just signed a petition telling the President: “Say no, or start over clean.” Learn more and sign the petition here:

Friends–
There are days along any journey that stick with you, and today was one of them.
Under blue Indian Summer skies, more than 12,000 people from every corner of the country descended on Washington DC; then, with great precision, they fanned out to surround the White House and take a stand against the Keystone XLoil pipeline.
Here are just a couple of pictures from the day, and you can see lots more by clicking here.What speaker after speaker today made clear (and they came from every part of our movement: indigenous leaders, labor organizers, environmentalists, young people, preachers) was that today was in no way a grand finale — there’s lots more work to do.
I have no idea how this battle is going to come out — only that, together, we stand a chance to shut down this dirty pipeline and shift the flow not just of oil, but of history. This day was an important part of that history, and we’ll carry its power with us as we take this fight forward.
Thanks in advance for all the work we’ll do together, shoulder-to-shoulder, on the road ahead.
Onwards,
Bill McKibben for the 350.org team
P.S. This movement milestone deserves to be shared, so forward along this email — and share it on Facebook by clicking here or share it on Twitter by clicking here.

Here’s an update from RootsAction’s David Swanson who’s on the ground in D.C.

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Ten years ago tomorrow, the longest war in U.S. history began. That’s ten years of missiles and bombs, ten years of kicking in doors and disappearing people, ten years of fighting and fundingthe Taliban, ten years of developing hatred of the United States, ten years of demolishing Afghanistan’s natural environment, and ten years of profiteering to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars a day.

And there’s no end in sight.

That’s why I’m writing to you from Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C., where thousands of us have just begun an occupation planned months ago and energized in recent weeks by our brothers and sisters at OccupyWallStreet. We’re bringing the occupation to the government that Wall Street corrupts — to the government that launches war without end. Corporate exploitation abroad depends on the threat of war. War funding depends on the defunding of human needs.

We aim to shift our public priorities. These are our goals:
• Tax the rich and corporations
• End the wars, bring the troops home, cut military spending
• Protect the social safety net, strengthen Social Security and institute enhanced Medicare for All
• End corporate welfare for oil companies and other big business interests
• Transition to a clean energy economy, reverse environmental degradation
• Protect worker rights including collective bargaining, create jobs and raise wages
• Get money out of politics

I’m writing from New York City, where the Occupy Wall Street movement is taking off.
What started as a small group of young people with a vague call to action is evolving into something truly inspiring — and our crew at 350.org is excited to support this nascent movement.Here’s what Bill McKibben had to say about “The 99%” who are Occupying Wall Street — and how climate change fits into the picture:

Let’s show the activists in New York (and in cities all over the country and the world) that the climate movement stands in solidarity with them.Share this image on Facebook, post it on Twitter, and consider joining a local “occupation” near you. Engage in dialogue and join the conversation that is shaping one of the most exciting grassroots movements in recent memory.

It’s hard to believe that just 10 days ago, I was in the afterglow of Moving Planet, sorting through inspirational photos from people all over the world who were moving beyond fossil fuels. The images were powerful, and they fired me up for whatever came next.

What came next was the Occupy Wall Street movement. In the last two weeks it has grown from something small, local, and overlooked by the media into something massive, global, and unignorable. There are now non-violent protests springing up in hundreds of cities, and stories of “the 99%” are dominating headlines everywhere. No one knows exactly what it will become — but it has the potential to be a true game-changer.

We now face exciting questions: what can we all do to support and expand this groundswell? And how might Occupy Wall Street’s amazing energy further embolden the climate movement?

The answers to these questions are starting to become clear. Two days ago I joined a crew of passionate climate activists in Manhattan to march with tens of thousands of people as part of Occupy Wall Street. The demands from the crowd were varied, but it all boils down to this: just about every problem we now face — from foreclosures to the climate crisis — is made worse by unchecked corporate greed and a corrupt political process. As I marched through the city, it struck me that naming (and acting on) the root causes of the world’s biggest problems is precisely what this moment demands.

In the coming weeks, we’ll be zeroing in on the root causes of the climate crisis, and focusing on the iconic battles in the fight for our planet’s future. In the near term, we’ll be focused on stopping the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline–a key fight where corporate corruption and environmental justice collide. If we can stop the pipeline we’ll send a resounding message across the country: that it’s time for the health of our communities and our planet to come before the profits of Wall Street and big polluters. President Obama will decide by the end of the year on whether to approve the pipeline, and we’ll be scaling up our activism to keep the pressure on.

From Wall Street to Washington DC to cities across the country, big things are coming together, and there are ways for people everywhere to join in. You can go to TarSandsAction.org to get plugged into the fight to stop the Keystone pipeline, and OccupyTogether.org to find out more about joining the 99%.

The next phase of these movements will be a sprint, not a marathon. It’s an honor to be running it with all of you.